1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing a laminated electronic component, and more particularly, it relates to a method of manufacturing a laminated electronic component which is formed by stacking ceramic sheets.
2. Description of the Background Art
A laminated electronic component is typified by a laminated ceramic capacitor, which in general is manufactured in the following manner:
(1) Ceramic sheets are punched into prescribed handling sizes. Thereafter end surfaces of the punched ceramic sheets are used as orientation surfaces for printing internal electrodes on the ceramic sheets. Then the internal electrodes are dried. PA1 (2) A prescribed type of the ceramic sheets obtained in the above step (1) are stacked in a prescribed number using the end surfaces of the ceramic sheets as orientation surfaces similarly to the step (1). PA1 (3) The stacked ceramic sheets are thermally compressed and subjected to a cutting step, a firing step and a step of forming external electrodes, in order to obtain a desired laminated ceramic capacitor.
In the aforementioned method of manufacturing a laminated ceramic capacitor, the end surfaces of the ceramic sheets are used as orientation surfaces for carrying out the steps (1) and (2). Thus, reliability in locating the ceramic sheets in the printing and stacking steps has been limited when the ceramic sheets have no rigidity.
When a laminated ceramic capacitor to be obtained is miniaturized, for example, high accuracy is required for the aforementioned location steps in order to properly oppose the internal electrodes to each other. Further, the ceramic sheets are increasingly lowered in rigidity when the same are reduced in thickness in order to attain high capacitance, to cause difficulty in locating them on the basis of the end surfaces thereof.